Breaking Free
by Betta329
Summary: James waits in anticipation for Lily to arrive for a late night rendezvous. This was inspired by the High School Musical song - Breaking Free


James ran his hand through his already messy hair, not that it would help anything, and stared at his reflection. After years of chasing her, Lily Evans, had finally decided to accompany him on a date. Once the excitement that she had accepted wore off, he found himself standing in the boy's lavatory outside his bedroom, staring in the mirror and messing his unruly hair. What have I gotten myself into, he thought. He knew that there had to be something special about this date, something he had to do to make her realize what she had been missing all this time, but what could he, James Potter, do to impress the woman of his dreams? He looked into the mirror, despair clouding his rugged features. The light seemed to catch something beside his ear, and he turned his head to see, he had a big scratch down the side of his face.

Bollocks, he thought as he turned on the water to try and wash out the scrape. That just figures, my first break with Lily and I am horribly disfigured. Bloody Quidditch. Then he froze and looked up at his face, a gleam forming in his eye that could only mean James Potter had an idea. Quidditch, he thought.

She was sure to be angry that he was late, but he had to make an entrance to pull this off. He had told her to meet him by the lake at dusk. He waited for the sun to set completely before he took off towards their spot. He mounted his broom, kicked off of the ground, and left the shadow of the forest and took off across the lake. The mist from the water as he rushed over it splashed onto his legs. The air was chilly and made his cloak billow out behind him. His heart raced, not only from the rush as he flew through the air, but the thought that Lily would be standing there, robe pulled in close around her curves, long red hair catching the last glimpses of sunlight. As he approached the shore, he saw her standing by a large rock, pacing. He smiled as he pulled up to approach her from behind. He hovered for a moment above her as he waited for her to turn on her heal, then he dove down, causing her robe to billow from the rush of air and hovered behind her.

"James Potter, I thought you were going to stand me up," Lily said teasingly, knowing full well that James would have moved a mountain to spend an evening with her.

He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a single white rose. "For you," he said as he held it out for her. She took it from him, blushed and bowed her head for a moment, then looked up at him, smiling, and pressed the flower to her nose.

"It's nice to know you pull out all the stops," she said softly, her emerald eyes lit up the quickly darkening landscape that surrounded them. "So, what did you have in mind?" She turned and started to walk slowly away from him.

James leaned forward on his broom, speeding up until he was beside her. "Well, I thought I would take you for a ride. You haven't seen Hogwarts until you've had a bird's eye view." He smiled and turned to face her, but she had stopped. He circled back and stopped in front of her, concerned. "What's the matter?"

She let out an exasperated sigh, "It just figures that you would want to do the one thing I am absolutely hopeless at. You know that Madame Pomfrey has been trying to get my back on a broom since first year. I just can't do it James, I'm sorry, but-"

"Hold on there a minute, love. I didn't I wanted you to fly. My broom's big enough for two people. I thought we'd go for a little ride." He smiled at Lily, whose expression had changed to that of relief, and naturally, the teasing had returned.

"Oh sure, you really think you're going to take me for a ride on your broom. I've heard stories about your broom, James Potter," she pointed a finger in his face, "and there is not enough room for two on that little stick." She winked and her eyes danced.

"Oh, oh, oh, I see how it is, I can assure you Miss Evans, my broom is no stick, and there is plenty of room, and support, to hold both of us." He laughed. "Come on, before it gets too late." He reached his hand out for hers. She stared at him for a moment, skeptically, before smiling and taking his hand. Her long fingers were soft and smooth, almost like river water over rough stones. He knew she had the ability to tame him and although the thought scared him a little, he was quite fond of how much he had matured in the last two years and her newfound interest in his new sense of self. He guided her around and felt her climb onto the broom behind him. "Just hold on," he said as he felt her arms slide slowly around his waist. His heart beat a little faster feeling her body pressed against his back. He pulled up on the broom and shot quickly up into the sky.

Lily let out a squeak and squeezed James tighter as they climbed quickly into the air, the world growing smaller beneath them every second. He watched the clouds until they were almost parallel. Luckily it was a fairly clear night, a sliver of moon left a string of light across the lake, and the castle did not let out enough light to block out the stars, and there were a lot out tonight. Lily gasped as James straightened out and let the broom hover far above the earth.

"The stars are so bright, and so close. There isn't one that I can't reach." She said, he turned his head and could see her face out of the corner of his eye, completely mesmerized by the sky and clouds. The moonlight bounced off her face and shone on her milky skin, bright eyes, and satin hair.

He smiled, amused by how impressed she was with just a little height. "You're only getting half of the experience. Look down."

"Isn't that what you're supposed to tell nervous people not to do?" Lily said.

"Well yes, but that's when they don't have someone there to hold them up and make sure they don't slip off." James said.

"You sure don't have a lot of confidence in yourself, worried I'm just going to sit off," Lily teased.

"Hey, that's below the belt Evans. Are you going to look down or am I going to have to make you?"

"Make me, now I'm intrigued. Pray tell Mr. Potter, how are you going to make me look?" She said.

"Like this, hold on," he said as he shifted the broom down into the night, towards the lake. She gripped him tightly as the air rushed past them and they gained speed.

"James, stop, that's enough, I see," she said, a little bit panicked in her voice. James laughed and pushed the broom to go faster. "James, stop it, I'm serious." She gripped him even tighter as the lake grew closer. "James, pull up, you've got to pull up," but he wasn't listening, "James, James!" she screamed as he pulled up at the last second, causing the water to billow out around them from the air and he took off across the lake and toward the castle. James continued to laugh.

"James Potter! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She said as she hit him on the shoulder with one of her hands."

"Play nice, Lily. You've gotta know I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Ready for some more?"

He felt her breathing hard behind him, obviously more than a little peeved, but her grip tightened around him again as she whispered in his ear, "show me what this baby can do."

Not one to wait for an objection, James leaned closer to the broom and pushed it as hard and fast as it would go. They shot off through the night towards the castle, zigging and zagging between spires, over walls, and underneath bridges. They flew through the courtyard and spiraled around one of the tallest towers. Once they were over the castle he dove down again, speeding through tight spaces and around corners, bobbing and weaving as Lily squealed and hissed in his ear when she thought they were getting too close.

"I feel so free!" Lily shouted in James's ear over the sound of the wind as they flew faster around the outside edge of the castle. "Like I could do anything!" They both laughed as he guided them around the castle one more time before he stopped beside the balcony outside the Gryffindor common room. They hovered above the platform for a moment, catching their breath.

"That, was the most exhilarating thing that has ever happened to me." Lily breathed heavily into his ear, still clinging tightly to him.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it. Maybe we can do this again sometime." He felt her grip tighten as she slid off his broom and onto the balcony. She kept one hand on the broom still hovering a couple feet above her, and once she had gotten down James brought the broom down to be parallel with her face. Her hair was a mess and her cheeks flushed as she was still trying to catch her breath, but James thought she was more beautiful in that moment than he had ever seen her.

"Now I know why your hair is always a mess," she giggled and looked down at her feet. She reached into her robe and pulled out the rose he had given her, he had wondered what had happened to it, hoped she hadn't lost it, but she must have tucked it away when she first got on. She caressed his face with its soft petals before pressing it towards her nose again. James watched her, not sure what he should do, though he had this immense desire to kiss her, he did not want to push her too far.

Lily looked down at her shoes again and then tilted her head up slightly, looking at him coyly with her eyes. He felt his heart start to speed up again as she took a step closer to him and ran her hand softly, gently, down his face. He leaned his head down, rubbing his cheek against her head. As he rubbed his head down, Lily leaned her face up and brushed her lips against his. He took a moment to savor her taste, her softness, but did not want to make her wait for more, nor could he hold himself back much longer. He reached for her, taking her face in one of his hands and pulling her closer so that he could take her with his mouth all at once. He kissed her passionately and wrapped his other arm around her as he ran his hand down Lily's face and into her hair. He felt their passions combine as Lily pressed herself against him and parted her lips slightly. He flicked his tongue lightly across her lips right before slipping his tongue into her mouth and tasting all of her. Their heat and passion mixed, every muscle in his body called out for her as she threw her arms around his neck and almost seemed to go weak in his arms. They stood there on the balcony, unaware of anything else but their passions becoming one, as though their souls were touching and calling out to each other.

James didn't want to take the moment too far or last too long, always keep them wanting more after all. He took his tongue out from it's swirling journey inside Lily's mouth and pried himself away, though it practically killed him to let her go. She stood there for a moment, eyes still closed, before she opened them and looked up at her, a bothered and wanting look in her eyes. He ran his hand down her face and smiled at her. "You better get inside, it's lights out in a minute."

Lily frowned and crossed her arms across her chest, "what about you?"

"I have to go put my broom back up in the tower." Her expression softened. "Did you have a good time?"

Lily smiled and blushed, pushing one of the many loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime."

James leaned down and gave her one last soft kiss on the cheek. "I'll talk to you later," James said then pulled the broom handle up and took off around the spire. His heart was racing about how perfectly everything had gone, but he couldn't help coming around the spire to see if Lily was still there, and he smiled to himself as he saw her leaning over the edge of the balcony, looking in the direction he had flown. He was about to continue up as he saw her turn around, hug herself, and ran one hand through her hair as she stared at her rose. She smelled it once more, then looked off in the direction James flew off in before opening the glass door and walking slowly back into the common room.

Yeah, James thought, it was a good night.


End file.
